Former Democratic Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill said keeping former President Donald Trump off of the ballot in Colorado ultimately helps him in the 2024 election.
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Tuesday to bar Trump from the state ballot in the 2024 election for allegedly violating Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which states that “no person shall … hold any office … shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion.” The court argued in its majority opinion that Trump “engaged” in an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.
McCaskill, who claimed in November that Trump is worse than Adolf Hitler, said the court’s ruling is a “real bad decision” politically.
“As somebody who is a politician, I think it’s a real bad decision because I think it really helps Donald Trump,” McCaskill told MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough on Thursday. “And I don’t like anything that helps Donald Trump. I find myself in a weird position of agreeing with Bill Barr in terms of it helping him. It does help him and so, in a perfect world, if I could write the script, the Supreme Court would put him back on the ballot and then he would be defeated soundly. That’s what I want in my Christmas stocking this year.”
Former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr warned that this decision will cause political “chaos” for future elections during a CNN interview Wednesday with Jake Tapper. He also said the case lacked due process by lacking a jury or subpoenaed witnesses to present evidence of Trump allegedly inciting an insurrection. (RELATED: Turley Gives Single Reason All 9 SCOTUS Justices Should Cut Down Trump Ballot Ruling Without Any Dissenters)
Chief Justice Brian Boatright and two associate justices dissented in the ruling, arguing state law “was not enacted to decide whether a candidate engaged in insurrection.” Special counsel Jack Smith, who is charging Trump for allegedly overturning their election Jan. 6, has not charged the former president with inciting an insurrection.
The four justices who ruled in favor of the decision have all donated to Democratic candidates in the past, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records. Colorado Supreme Court Justice Melissa Hart donated nearly $20,000 to Democrats running in federal elections in 2008 and William Hood donated over $5,000 to Democratic candidates and groups.